Dean Jones - India to win the World Cup? Tell Dhoni he's dreaming

[saneindian]

87: Reid, Mcdermott, Steve Waugh and O'Donnell 96: Wickremsinghe, Vaas, Murali, Jayasurya, Dharamsena Indeed earth shattering bowling attacks, especially Sri Lanka. The two matches where our bowling has been exposed, England conceded 338, SA were thrashed for 90% of their bowling innings. Says a lot about those bowling attacks too. And Aussies got a taste of things to come today in the game vs Kenya. The day Lee and tatit fail to give them a good start, their bowling will look equally clueless as ours. But everyone is jumping on the bandwagon and having a dig at team India as that's the falvour of the season currently.

[Ranvir]

Waqar Younis did not play in 1992, he was injured.

[Karan114]

People were talking about India being favorites a month ago, but after the England game all the talk has been about India's poor bowling...so I'm not sure what Jones is on about, really. Fact is, this is one of the most closely contested World Cups in many years, with no stand out, dominant team like the Aussies of recent World Cups. South Africa lost to England and only narrowly beat India, that is hardly brilliant, Pakistan, Lanka and NZ all have suffered defeats too, and as for England they might not even qualify for the quarter finals. The Aussies are yet unbeaten but spin is a genuine weakness for them. Come March 23, it becomes a question of which team can lift itself two games in a row to get to the final and so it is all a question of handling pressure.

[kabira]

Hey Jones, The attack of Tait, Lee, Johnson and company just went for 260 odd runs against Kenya, Remember this is same kenyan team which was ripped by even Canada. and In 1987 only quality bowler Aussies had was Mcdermott, Steve Waugh part timer so was Odonnel.

[hari504504]

I agree with Dean Jones. With this pop-gun attack it is hard to keep your hopes up. Dhoni should atleast mix it up a little by including Ashwin and see if he turns out to be the trump card. Everyone seems to forget that Ashwin isn't an orthodox off-spinner - he is more in the Mendis mould. Either that or pray for an injury(to xxx) and hope Ojha comes in.

[veer]

He has made everyone eat humble pie time and again. But at the ICC trophy events his team has been a failure. CT' date=' 2 T20 leagues et al. Going by the trend i am not very confident.[/quote'] lot of factors were going against us in above mention tournaments.. like IPL, Injuries etc... we were not fully prepared..

[phaedrus]

as much as i agree with him about our bowling attack being bad, the bowling attacks of India in 83, Australia in 87, sri lanka in 96, Australia in 03 were hardly any better. curators, spinning tracks please!

[Ultimate_Game]

I used to think that Dhoni is street smart...sadly not anymore:nono: I hope he proves me and all his critics wrong.

Let's give him some time before passing the verdict. He was man enough to admit he erred in giving the last over to Nehra. Let's wait and watch... I have a sneaking suspicion you, and others, will be pleasantly surprized :smiley:

[Ultimate_Game]

as much as i agree with him about our bowling attack being bad, the bowling attacks of India in 83, Australia in 87, sri lanka in 96, Australia in 03 were hardly any better. curators, spinning tracks please!

I agree with you about other examples but the Aussie attack of 2003 was pretty good. They had McGrath in top form, Lee was in his prime bowling outswingers and yorkers between 150-160 kph and the backup bowlers in Bichel and Brad Hogg weren't too bad either.

[ganeshran]

He is right about teams that are absolutely world beating like Aussies in the 2000-2010 period and Windies in the 70s-80s. These teams not only had the talent, but they also evoked fear in their opponents psychologically. In the present no team is like that. Even Oz might have lost the rained off game against the Lankans. When there is no dominator, every team has a chance.

[suraj]

he is right- India does not have a strong chance

[someone]

Racist and pretty much irrelevant. If we look at the history, we will never win the world cup. First, no team as played as hosts, won it. So we need to challenge history from the first day.

[yoda]

Racist and pretty much irrelevant. If we look at the history, we will never win the world cup. First, no team as played as hosts, won it. So we need to challenge history from the first day.

What exactly is racist about his post?

[Watson87]

Dean Jones :thefinger:

[pinkfreud]

Racist and pretty much irrelevant.

How on Earth was his opinion racist? Moving on.. I agree with Dean, but after seeing how Kenya did their best against a 'lethal' bowling attack like Australia, I wouldn't be putting all my money in the bank to bet on the best bowling units. Even though we lost to SA, their best bowlers were completely thrashed by our top order. If our middle order wouldn't have played those stupid shots and if our captain would've made some sensible decisions on the field, we would have proved that bowling alone, just like mere batting, does not win you matches.

[vvvslaxman]

Thanks Deano... you are another jinx master.. thought not Ian chappellsque proportion you have some powers.

[pinkfreud]

Did Deano have anything to say about Amla's performance? Or did he play it safe? :giggle:

[Lord]

Now does the Indian bowling line-up of Khan' date=' Nehra, Chawla and Harbhajan look as good as any of these champion line-ups? Simply, no! Dhoni wants seven specialist batsmen and four specialist bowlers. Having seven batsmen tells me that India doesn't trust its ''engine room'' to make the runs required. [b']By having four bowlers, it means that everything must go right or they are in deep trouble. What happens if one is injured? Or one gets smashed

India's best line-up is Khan' date=' Nehra, Harbhajan and Ashwin, with Yusuf Pathan and Yuvraj Singh splitting the fifth bowler duties[/quote'] he sounds confused himself.wont bother taking him seriously

[riwi999]

I don't agree with Dean Jones. How does he explain the West Indies losing to India in 1983? Man-to-man, they had a far superior side. In 1987 too, Border's Aussie side was hardly awe-inspiring. Imran's 1992 side was lucky to even get past the initial stages and Ranatunga's 1996 side, with just a few individual world-beaters, just happened to be in red-hot form all the way through the tournament. South Africa has for long had one of the best sides on paper but never lifted the Cup. Once we get to the knock-outs, we will see how Jones' theory pans out. It is about handling the pressure, about taking those half-chances, about getting a bit of luck your way - all these will make the difference. Yes, some teams have better batting than others, some have better bowling. And most unfortunately have better fielding units than India. But it will come down to performance on the day and I think we have the ability to go all the way, whatever Mr. Dean Jones thinks.

[phaedrus]

as much as it is about having great teams, its about peaking at the right time. thats what every world cup winning team has been able to do. We will have to start doing many things differently and hope the batting keeps going.